BP 7 What President Trump Can Learn From Economists

President Trump recently asked Michael Flynn, who briefly served as national security advisor, “Is it good for the economy to have a strong dollar or a weak one?” Mr. Flynn gave President Trump a great answer, Mr. Flynn told President Trump to “Ask an economist”. There are three things that President Trump should learn from his economists. One, the overall economy is in reasonably good shape. The unemployment rate is low, about 5%, and the inflation rate is right around the 2% that the Federal Reserve targets. President Trump can push to lower the unemployment rate, but that could cause problems with inflation so it is not recommended. Two, future growth is likely to be modest. The largest cause of this is demographic, as the role of women in the work force is established and baby boomers are now retiring. Another cause of this is that good ideas may be harder to find, as the American workers engaged in research are twenty times higher than they were in the 1930’s there have been not explosion in productivity. Third, the stagnant wages of the lower skilled will not be easy to fix. The cause of this crisis is the falling demand for non-skilled workers. This is largely cause by technological advancements such as robots to complete simple tasks for example the automated machines for automotive assembly lines. Also, as for your question the strength of the dollar is ambiguous. Some will lose, and gain, with a strong dollar, and some will lose, and gain, with a weak dollar. The goals and the necessities of the economy drive where the strength of the dollar should lie.

President Trump must take into account the utilitarian aspects of morality when determining where to take the economy of the United States. If President Trump ignores the needs of the many to ensure the future of the minority it could, and most likely will, result in a larger rift between the lower wage employees and the wealthy. Many of President Trump’s actions so far have the nation’s best interests in mind upon completion which is morally correct according to Immanuel Kant, as the intent of his actions are good. However, these actions have not been popular among the public which has caused unrest among the country, which could violate the values of Utilitarianism. Up until recently President Trump had been acting with integrity doing what he said he would when he was campaigning. This has slightly changed as many of the promises he made involving his replacement of the Affordable Care Act(ACA), such as no one would lose coverage, the elderly would not be affected, etc.… have turned out to be false. The replacement for the ACA will cause millions to lose coverage, and coverage will cost the elderly much more than it used to. This is not an act of integrity from President Trump. This leaves us to question his integrity when it comes to future decisions especially involving the economy, and his promises to voters about bringing back manufacturing jobs, and increasing wages. If he continues to act this way he will soon lose all credibility among the majority of the population.